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dependent on the availability of the East Court staging space. Under the current plan, the renovation project will be complete in 1999. Although Congressional authorization is not required for the renovation work itself, the Board of Regents will be requested to support legislation for the construction of the building in the East Court at the January 1990 Regents' meeting.

[[underlined]] SENIOR LEVEL PAY [[/underlined]

Secretary Adams was not sanguine about any significant relief on Federal senior level pay forthcoming from the Congress. He expressed concern that to the degree to which the Smithsonian resorts to trust funds to pay salaries necessary for the recruitment and retention of its museum directors and other top staff, the Smithsonian runs the risk of crippling its own flexibility and exacerbating patterns of inequity among the compensation packages. In discussion the Regents suggested that enhanced efforts to raise funds for programs already budgeted could have the effect of freeing up scarce unrestricted Trust funds which could be redirected for compensation purposes. It was also noted that the interests of the Smithsonian should be kept in mind as Congress considers either general or special pay legislation.

A prepared report indicated that the Smithsonian has retained a consultant to review such matters of pay and benefits and to make recommendations which the Secretary expects to bring to the Board's attention in January. In addition, it noted that Smithsonian top administrative and professional staff are not eligible to participate in Senior Executive Service (SES), and the "super grade" positions they continue to hold have slipped from the comparability they once had with SES salaries. To regain a degree of comparability at a minimum, and thereby to enhance the Smithsonian's ability to recruit and retain top staff, letters have been sent to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and key members of Congress proposing a way to correlate and increase supergrade pay to SES pay, should the latter be raised. The Institution is staying in touch with all legislative proposals regarding pay should there be an opportunity to include Smithsonian interests. In the final analysis, the Smithsonian may need to seek its own legislation either to tie its senior staff pay to whatever pay raises are provided to the SES or to propose separate pay levels for the Smithsonian. That strategy will be explored and reported on at the January meeting of the Board of Regents.

[[underlined]] PROPOSED NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY [[/underlined]]

Mr. Adams introduced a proposal to establish a National Council of the National Museum of Natural History. As suggested by McKinsey Company in its study of the Natural History Museum, the Council would serve to generate support for the Museum and advise on matters of policy. To accomplish these goals, board members should include potential donors, active senior corporate executives, and distinguished scientists. Bylaws for the Council were prepared for the Regents' consideration, and it was 

VOTED that the Board of Regents establishes the National Council of the National Museum of Natural History and approves the Council's bylaws as proposed.